With many area colleges moving to online summer classes in response to the coronavirus, there is concern over what the future holds for the fall semester.

At St. John Fisher College, school leaders recently made the call that remote instruction would continue through the summer term. Although this is an acceptable solution for now, it poses some problems for the International Studies program that depends on travel and first-hand knowledge of another culture.

"I strongly believe for students to acquire a global mindset. I often tell students that the world speaks more than one language and there are many cultural language out there that students especially younger students should discover," said Dr. Stella Plutino-Calabrese, director of global education at St. John Fisher College.

Just before Christmas last year, there was a special blessing for the students who would travel abroad for the second semester. But only a few weeks into the program and close to a hundred students had their semester cut short and 30 of them had to leave Italy abruptly because of the coronavirus outbreak in that country.

"It was a very difficult process and a very difficult situation. It was very sad. It felt like a loss for my students and for me," said Dr. Stella Plutino-Calabrese.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the faculty to evaluate the future of the the global studies program.

"We follow very closely the CDC and the state department to give us guidelines. When we put all that together, the committee, the emergency response team puts all the recommendations together and if course we make the best decision that could keep our students safe. I believe that we remain optimistic that when this is all over, our students will return to study and live abroad," said Dr. Plutino-Calabrese.